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January 2007 Newsletter

Posted by Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, at 22:35, Thu 11 January 2007:

Welcome to my first newsletter of 2007, for constituents who have asked me to keep them updated on my work in Parliament for Audenshaw, Denton, Dukinfield, Haughton Green, Heaton Chapel, Heaton Norris, and Reddish.

IN THE CONSTITUENCY

• Tower Mill

I paid a visit to Tower Mill over the Christmas period. For those of you who don’t know it, Tower Mill is a listed building on the banks of the River Tame in Dukinfield. The disused mill, owned by the Stamford Group, has had some small businesses as occupants over the past few years, but has now come to the end of its useful life.

Rather than fall into disrepair, the owners of the mill have submitted a planning application to completely revamp the premises, providing it with new uses, and yet retaining all of its listed features. If approved, the mill will be converted into a set of very desirable residential flats. A glass atrium will be built in the centre, the cellars will be used for car parking space, and modern offices will be built at the rear, on the river front.

One reason I am so in favour of this project is that similar conversions have already been completed in the centre of Reddish, proving very popular with young professionals, and regenerating the area. Houldsworth Mill has been converted into flats and offices, and Victoria Mill will also soon be converted in a similar manner. On the back of the regeneration of the mills there is now even a plan to re-open a part of the old canal alongside them, and establish a new marina.

I have great hopes for this Dukinfield development. There are many disused mills in the area, and it is great to see developers finding viable modern uses for these fantastic ex-industrial buildings.

Take a look at this Stockport Express article to see how effective a sympathetic conversion can be: http://www.stockportexpress.co.uk/news/s/9/9024_mill_wins_top_award_for_stylish_revamp.html

• Victoria Park

Communities from Denton are set for a healthy 2007 as Work has now begun on creating fantastic new sports facilities in the town.

Victoria Park has received funding from Barclays Spaces for Sports, a three-year, £30m community sponsorship programme to create and improve sports facilities in communities across the UK. The programme is a partnership between Barclays, Groundwork and the Football Foundation.

Local residents and the Friends of Victoria Park will be working with environmental charity Groundwork Tameside to create a new facility from the existing tennis court. The facility will be capable of sustaining multiple sports, including mini tennis, football and basketball.

I am delighted that we will soon have a first class sporting facility right in the centre of Denton. I would like to thank Barclays for sponsoring these works, and for helping the Friends of Victoria Park, the charity Groundwork Tameside and the whole of Denton’s community to achieve what they have worked so hard for over the past year.

Visit: http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?site=pfs&task=channelFWvi2&value=8425&target=_self

for more Barclays Spaces for Sports projects throughout the country, including the Haughton Green Bowling Green.

• SOS - SAVE OUR STATIONS

As many of you are aware, Network Rail, who own and operate Britain’s rail infrastructure have recommended the closure of both Denton and Reddish South railway stations. I am fighting to keep these stations open.

A skeleton “parliamentary” service has operated on the Stockport-Stalybridge line since the 1980s, with just one train a week in one direction. It is of little surprise that neither the service nor the stations are in current use, perhaps with the exception of the occasional train enthusiast. On 10th November Network Rail published a Route Utilisation Strategy for the North West, which included the proposal to close the stations.

Whilst I broadly support the aims of the Route Utilisation Strategy consultation document, and its goals for the Greater Manchester area, including the upgrading of Manchester Victoria station and the extension to the Manchester Airport railway station, I object very strongly to the proposal to formally close Reddish South and Denton stations. The Stockport-Stalybridge line is little-used, with an increase in passenger train frequency unlikely to make it any more popular, but I believe that both Reddish South and Denton stations have a very viable future on an entirely new route, utilising existing lines.

In response to the consultation document I have formally submitted a proposal to Network Rail to run a passenger service between Stockport and Manchester Victoria. I believe that this alternative route to the city from Stockport would be very popular with commuters, as it would reduce passenger congestion on the existing rail route to Manchester Piccadilly. It would also be a viable alternative to the car for the communities of Dane Bank, Denton West End and central and south Reddish, where there has been a huge degree of housing regeneration around the Mills, with many young professionals and commuters moving into the area.

My battle to keep these stations open has not been with Network Rail so far, but with the Lib Dems on Stockport Council. With a final date for submissions of response to the proposals of 5th January, it was vital to get “all party” support before the stations were closed for good. I had been hopeful that the Lib Dems would have come on side with the Labour Councillors of Stockport and Tameside immediately, and support the proposal to keep the stations open in the Council meeting on 19th December. I was wrong; the Lib Dems unnecessarily dragged their feet until the final hour.

On the final day for submissions the Lib Dems performed a massive u-turn, signing up to a proposal identical to my own. I have no idea why they did not publicly support us at the Council meeting, but at least Stockport Borough Council is now singing from the same hymn sheet. This proposal now has genuine all party support.

In an effort to increase the commercial viability of the proposal I have recommended that Denton station be complemented with a strategic park and ride facility, utilising the spare capacity in the Sainsbury’s car park at the M60/M67 interchange. It has also been suggested by Reddish’s Labour Councillors that a second, smaller, local park and ride facility could be based at the Morrisons superstore, adjacent to Reddish South station.

I have already held a very productive meeting with Network Rail bosses in an effort to keep the stations open, and I have written to the House of Commons Speaker to request an urgent parliamentary debate on the issue. Ultimately the closure of the stations can only be authorised by the Secretary of State for Transport, and I will keep fighting to ensure that this authorisation is not given.

I have been overwhelmed by the messages of support that I have received for my proposals, and I would like to thank everyone who is helping in the fight to keep our stations open. A link to Manchester Victoria makes commercial sense, and the lines already exist to do it.

Please visit http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/ViewPage.cfm?Page=20617 for all the most update information on the “Save our Station” campaign.

IN PARLIAMENT

• National Offender Management

The Government announced a new Offender Management bill in November’s Queen’s Speech. As the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Offender Management, I will be playing a very substantial role in getting this important legislation through Parliament.

Since 1997 this Labour Government has provided more money for the management and supervision of offenders. There has been a 40% increase in funding over the past five years to more than £900m, the equivalent of £3800 for every offender they supervise. There are now 5000 more staff employed in the probation service than there were in 1997.

Despite this, under successive governments the re-offending rate has stayed obstinately high at 53% for non-custodial sentences and over 60% for those leaving prison. We now need to supplement and reform the probation service to meet the complex needs of offenders through a more flexible and complex range of services.

This means enlisting and harnessing the voluntary, charitable and private sectors to assist the traditional probation service. The bill will increase the amount of support available, and increase the range, diversity, and quality of support offered to offenders. I want to prioritise the work of the probation service so that it focuses on the most serious and dangerous offenders and spends less time on bureaucracy and report writing.

I am confident that the Offender Management Bill will reduce re-offending and better protect the public. The Probation Service has delivered improvements in performance over recent years, but tackling re-offending requires a broad coalition of effort. I will be on the committee for this bill, and will be working hard to help ensure that parliament passes a very effective piece of legislation, to reduce re-offending for the long term.

• Petitions

This week I have presented two public petitions to the House of Commons. The first, organised by the Labour Councillors of Reddish, calls on the Government to reject Network Rail’s proposals to close Reddish South Station. A copy of this petition has also been sent to Network Rail.

Secondly, I have presented the petition of Courtney’s Campaign. In May last year 9 year old Courtney Walker from Dukinfield was bitten across the face by her neighbour’s pet bull mastiff. Courtney entered the garden where she was bitten when going to see a friend.

Tragically, as this attack took place on the dog owner’s property, the Greater Manchester Police were unable to call for any criminal punishments. The signatories of Courtney’s Campaign are calling for an amendment to the Dangerous Dogs Act so that a court can call for the destruction of a dog if it injures a person when out of control, even if the attack takes place on the dog owners private property.

• Post Office

There have been two full debates in the House of Commons on local services this week, both of which I have contributed to.

During a debate on the future of the Post Office, I took the opportunity to raise the issue of Denton Post Office with the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. As many of you will be aware, since moving from the Co-op to new premises 12 months ago, Denton Post Office has remained a building site. I believe that this is unacceptable, and am calling for a more managed approach to Britain’s Post Offices to ensure that such fiascos are dealt with swiftly.

• Health

During a debate on NHS maternity services I welcomed the results of the Greater Manchester consultation, which recommended that Tameside General Hospital keep its maternity services for the benefit of the community. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that was involved in the campaign to save our maternity services.

I also praised the recommendation of the Greater Manchester consultation to establish a new, state-of-the-art, maternity facility in central Manchester, able to serve both residents of the city, and further afield. This would not be possible without the massive investment that this Government has put into the health service.

INTERNATIONAL

• Trees for Recycling

I met with Mr Bertrand Zida, the Secretary General of the Burkina Faso Environment Ministry at the House of Commons before Christmas to support the TREES FOR THE UK / TREES FOR AFRICA campaign. Not for profit organisation, Alupro, has promised to grow a tree in the UK or Africa for every tonne of aluminium cans and foil recycled over the past 18 months by participating local authorities. Both Stockport and Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council’s are involved in this scheme.

The initiative has proved a big success, boosting aluminium recycling performance by a massive 32% to 65,818 tonnes across the UK. As a result 10,729 tress will be grown in the UK by Alupro, and 55,089 trees are being donated to Africa. The tree programme in Burkina Faso is being run with UK-based charity Tree Aid, with all tree species chosen for their food and medicinal uses.

Planting trees in Sub-Saharan Africa is becoming increasingly vital as climate change is leading to trees dying earlier, and soil erosion becoming more severe. This programme is therefore helping the environment by increasing recycling in Tameside and Stockport, whilst also preventing soil erosion and the consequential loss off agricultural land in Africa.

More details on Alupro’s work can be found at:

http://www.alupro.org.uk/trees%20campaign.htm

• Blue Peter Shoe Biz Appeal

I am supporting Blue Peter’s Shoe Biz Appeal, to support UNICEF’s work in Malawi with children facing the consequences of HIV and AIDS. On the 13th December my family and I met with Blue Peter presenter Zoe Salmon, to donate a pair of shoes to the appeal.

I am asking the children of Denton and Reddish to send in their old shoes for recycling to raise money for UNICEF’s work. The shoes collected are being reconditioned and shipped overseas to raise money for the appeal.

Someone dies of AIDS in Malawi every 9 minutes, with more than 600,000 children having lost one or both of their parents to the disease. The shoes recycled with the Shoe Biz Appeal will help to set up Children’s Corners all over Malawi, and will train Community Care Workers, so that children get the help and support they desperately need. In addition, the money will buy seeds, farming and gardening equipment, toys, books, first aid kits, water pumps, and bicycles for community care workers.

Sending shoes in to the appeal will make a big difference to Malawi’s children, who face the every day harsh realities of HIV and AIDS. UNICEF’s work is providing children who have lost a parent to the disease, with the space that they need to be children. In the Children’s Corners they will find food, water, education, friends and, best of all, the care and support they would otherwise miss out on.

Any school, youth club or youth organisation, such as the Guides or Cubs, is welcome to set up a Shoe Biz collection point, but it has to be set up and run by an adult. Visit: http://www.shoebizappeal.org.uk/index.aspx

for more details on the appeal, including how to set up a local collection point.

Happy New Year,

ANDREW GWYNNE MP

For more information on my campaigns, and for full copies of my press releases please visit my website at http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/.

Please read my Parliamentary speeches at http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/andrew_gwynne/denton_and_reddish

Please feel free to contact me at gwynnea@parliament.uk; phone me on 0161 320 1504 or send a letter to Andrew Gwynne MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

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